1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a link mechanism for transmitting a mechanical signal in which the link mechanism has a selected resilience to accommodate force overload situations without breakage, and is particularly adapted for use in hydraulic and/or pneumatic control systems as used in marine vessels.
2. Prior Art
Resilient control link assemblies have been used for many years in control systems as typically found on marine vessels. Such links are designed to accommodate force overload situations resulting from inequality of responses between a transmitter and a receiver, alignment errors resulting from accumulation of tolerances, conflicting control signals, fluid pressure failure in at least one of the components and other applications wherein a link connecting at least two components would be subjected to excessive forces which could damage the link, and/or the component or components.
A typical prior art link is a self-centering spring link which has axially aligned telescoping components connected by spring means so that the spring means will yield under excessive loads to permit relative movement between the telescoping components. This relative movement permits a receiving or driven component with a slow response to follow relatively faster movement of a transmitting or driver component. With a slow response driven component, the spring stores energy and thus delays transmission of the signal, allowing the slower moving driven conponent to "catch up" to the faster driver component.
Various devices have been designed to accommodate excessive movement between two interconnected components in a particular plane using hinged members and coil springs. These devices have had applications in widely different fields and one example of a device having hinged members and springs is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,427,621 for a REMOTE CONTROL SYSTEM issued to Peterson. Whilst this patent discloses a pair of hinged members cooperating with at least one spring, it functions in a different manner from the present invention, and would be inappropriate for use in some applications of the present invention. Some prior art devices are complex and require electrical power and other equipment, and furthermore, response of some of these devices would be inappropriate for applications of the present invention.